Attention to the Dream

path

What we give our attention to is what gets things moving. Thanks to the pioneering work of e.g. Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung and many others before and since, we are more aware of the mysterious workings of the inner psychology of mankind. Many are awakening to the abundance of the unconscious from where the dream comes, and are giving it their attention as a psychologically sound and healthy way to access their own precious psychological authenticity and we’re animated in the process.

Attention to the dream, those night time visitors, will yield rewards. We pay attention to what is important to us – our careers, relationships, health, finances, inter alia – why not to that other reality? We are after all, the author of the dream, no-one else. Dreaming is an instance over which we have no control. They are spontaneous and come from the deepest reaches of our being.

Attention also means intention to take the dream seriously, to try to figure out what it is saying. We know that it speaks in a language different to the one we are familiar with, and this makes it difficult. It is best to bring an attitude of unknowing to the dream.

Analysis of the dream requires careful and patient attention to detail e.g. the arena in which it occurs, any action that is expressed in the dream and awareness, worn like a protective cloak, as we actively work in deciphering the clues.

By the time we reach the age of 60 we’ve spent about 15 years of this time asleep and a significant portion of that time dreaming. Let’s attempt to access our dream world.

The dream is your friend, not foe. It is your guide wanting to bring you to greater awareness and consciousness.

thanks to Google image for above image

64 Comments on Attention to the Dream

  2. Archetype is my favorite A word for dreams. I look for the ways they reveal themselves and bring meaning. I love to access dream consciousness through embodied imagination. Thanks for a great dream post.

    • Thank you Elaine! I would have loved to have used ‘archetype’ for A – though I fear I would still be writing about it many years later! Archetype is such a powerful tool with which to become familiar!

  3. Thank you for this lovely post, Susan, and putting the importance of dreams into perspective. Since I’ve started writing seriously, I find my 8th century characters wake me in the night with the next part of the story. I sleep now with a notebook and pen under my pillow, since what they tell me is usually forgotten the next morning if I don’t write it down. I hope you have a great A-Z. This is a fabulous start!:)

    • That is a beautiful example of dreams providing the prompts Sharon! Please do mention this again and again in up-coming posts … notebook, pen, pillow … Have a Blessed Easter.

  4. 15 years??? that statistic certainly made me sit up and take notice! I have had many critical messages conveyed through dreams and I do pay attention, however medications have their affect as well. Many of us will never know what our natural dream state would be, absent our prescriptions. Nevertheless we take our current state as our reality and use the dreams as we can.

    • 15 years of SLEEPING Sammy D! 🙂 🙂 Only a percentage of that time is spent in dreaming – REM sleep .. a few seemed to have thought as you do, now I hope we can say ‘did’ ..

      I’d like to get off my half a sleeping pill a night habit, and see if my dreams convey anything more in its absence. Nevertheless, I continue to dream, remembering them sometimes, not always.

      Thank you for coming by!

  5. What a beautiful post! I used to keep a dream journal, you’re reminding me what a powerful practice that was.

    Stopping by from Pam’s Unconventional Alliance, best of luck on the Challenge!

    • Thank you Anna. Glad that you’re reminded about your dream journal. It’s a powerful practice indeed …

      Best to you too on the Challenge!

  6. Ah, Susan, when I read that you were going to be focusing on dreams for the challenge, I knew I had some delicious, thought provoking, spirit stoking reading ahead of me, and look! I was right! Dreams are such a gift, whether we can interpret their lurking messages right away, or whether have to ponder and pluck at them for days on end.

    It’s a bit startling to think that 15 entire years of my life have been spent in that other, mysterious world. Really gives a person pause!

    What a great theme, Susan, and what a terrific start to the challenge. Can’t wait for more!

    • Thank you so much Kern! ‘Lurk’ – what a strange word as I think about it, but this is precisely how they are, lurking in our unconscious. Thank you for the graphic image also of pondering and plucking!

      Only some of the time that we spend sleeping is given over to dreaming … imagine if we dreamed the whole night long – we’d be exhausted!

  7. I always try to pay attention to my dreams. I feel they are an important part of me and I hate to forget them, or the feelings I have in them. Thanks for a lovely post… Lisa, co-host AtoZ 2015, @ lisabuiecollard.com

    • Thanks Lisa for coming by … remembering the feelings in them is an important aspect of dreaming. Writing them down helps to not forget..

  8. Dreams are fascinating. It feels like I don’t remember them most nights, but when I do I enjoy thinking about them. I’ve had various recurring dreams throughout my life, and I like reflecting on how the themes have changed throughout the years.

    • Thanks Sara for coming by. We don’t always remember them but when we do –

      I also enjoy reflecting on recurring themes over time. The change of them, the sameness of the theme.

    • Thank you S.L. Take up the challenge you’ve set yourself, wanting to spend more time on them ..

      Good luck to you too with the challenge!

  10. A very interesting post, Susan. I took a dream analysis class in college and it was fascinating. However, I was more focused on the word “attention” in this post. Being attentive is so much more than being physically there. It is about awareness, openness, listening and communication. Once again, you’ve got me thinking and I’m so very glad you did too!

  11. “Awakening to the abundance” that the unconscious has to offer us. I do believe in the importance of dreams and do take them out and look at them when I return to the conscious world. But, some of them, when I think I understand what they may be showing me — what to do about them, what to do? Ay, there’s the rub.

    • Aye indeed, there’s the rub Samantha! Sometimes it’s best to do nothing and just hold the dream, carefully, allowing its meaning in time to unfold.

      Thank you for commenting, I appreciate this!

  12. Beautifully written. I love the idea of analyzing and looking at our dreams. I have recently started meditating and find if I do it right when I wake up my dreams are clearer and I have more of a chance to remember them.

    • Thanks Kris for coming by. Great that meditation helps in the recall of your dreams. I tried to leave a comment on your post in the ‘leave a comment’ button but it did not enable me to do so. I loved that your post was on that most misused word ‘awesome’.

  14. I rarely remember my dreams. But I have read that dreams are some sort of communication or a means of divine intervention and help us connect with our inner wisdom. Looking forward to gain some insights from your series!

  15. Ambitious of you to select so many “A” words to feature in a single post. I like it! I’m so looking forward to deepening my understanding and appreciation of dreams during the A to Z Challenge. Off to an illuminating start.

  16. I’ve been paying attention to my dreams since I was a teenager and the practice has blessed me all my life. Learning to decipher the language of our own unconscious is an extraordinarily fascinating journey. Looking forward to the rest of your series Susan.

    • The unconscious is such a rich and natural source of wisdom if we believe in the value of listening to our inner selves. Thank you for commenting Deborah, I too have been fascinated by my own dreams and dreams in general for a very long time. They are indeed a blessing!

      I look forward to your posts on the Tarot, I much enjoyed the first on The Fool.

  17. Thank you Gwynn .. food for thought indeed. Food often appears in (my) dreams …I wonder then if it is nutritional, whether I have any, whether it is food for the soul …

  18. I enjoy your posts Susan as they are educational. I know that for me, when remember my dreams I know I am processing something. Dreams are wonderful ‘food for thought.’ Thanks for the excellent post.

    • Thank you Gwynn .. food for thought indeed. Food often appears in (my) dreams …I wonder then if it is nutritional, whether I have any, whether it is food for the soul …

  19. Wow, Susan. 15 years of sleeping by the age of 60. That’s an amazing statistic.
    I love your theme. As I had mentioned, I’m sure, my grandmother, and my mom to a certain extent, loved interpreting dreams, those nightly visions that is. They definitely took dreams seriously, and much of that was passed down to me, of course.
    Thank you. I loved every word of it.

  20. Hi Susan

    as a child I used to be completely fascinated by dreams, their meanings etc, and would spend hours writing mine down, referring to books to try to understand and analyse them. I don’t do that so much now, although they still intrigue me, especially when something appears, on the surface, to be nonsensical and without context.

    I look forward to reading more of your posts over the course of the challenge

    Flip

  22. Dear Susan;
    Yes, dreams are the nature we are born with and so available for accessing their wisdom…
    Susan

  23. Hi Susan – I never seem to finish my dream and rarely remember them … or even parts of them – I must dream .. perhaps one day dreams will stick around … but attention is definitely so important in many ways – cheers Hilary

    • Thanks Hilary – most often dreams are not ‘finished’ .. there’s always more! Although sometimes they seem complete in themselves. If you want to dream and remember them ask your unconscious for a dream before you turn in for the night ..

  24. I like your theme. I plan to visit here often during the challenge. I have really vivid dreams. They’re like a movie. The most recent big dream I had was that I got swept up in a tsunami. At one point cars were floating in the air, waiting for gravity to slam them back to earth. I have lots of dreams with water in them.
    Play off the Page

    • Like a movie is very descriptive Mary thank you for coming by! Those tsunami like dreams are distressing and overwhelming … I’ve had them a few times invariably when I’ve felt overwhelmed in my other also real life. As well as cars driving off into the cliff into the sea. Water in a dream is a strong symbol ..

  25. Just as I feel asleep last night, I entered into a dream and remembered that was your upcoming topic! Already Attention was growing. Thanks.

  26. Amazingly brilliant post of your the first A contribution that you have made, Susan.

    Appreciation is the first emotion that comes to my heart As your thoughts enable me to
    Apprehend beyond my normal span of comprehension.

    • Lovely comment thank you Joseph! I appreciate this! ‘Appreciate’ as A in my post would have been a good word to use –

  27. Hi,
    Dreams, the unknown wealth that is stored in every human being, have so often been neglected, criticised and treated as some kind of joke, but I believe they are fire that give us the courage to step into the unknown or either to shrink back from it.

    I look forward to this month of learning more about dreams and increasing that which I already know.

    Your beginning has increased my hunger for what is to come.

    Great job, my dear.

    Shalom,
    Patricia

    • Thank you Patricia, yes, the unknown, a treasure house. The fire within ..

      I hope you enjoy the rest of it all Patricia and thank you again.

    • Thanks for coming by Sharon – I must note whether length of sleep affects my recall of dreams, I’m not sure it does. We dream whether or not we remember them, when in REM sleep.

  29. I believe that dreams are messages from the other side. Sometimes they make sense immediately and sometimes the meaning emerges later. A great start to the AtoZ challenge. looking forward to your posts.

    • Thanks Suzy – ‘other side’ – yes, the inside.. I agree sometimes the meaning seems clear other times it can take months, tears even

  31. Susan, writing about dreaming is beautiful indeed! I have always been a BIG dreamer…meaning, some of my dreams were like long vivid sagas with beginnings, middles, and ends. Thank you for a wonderful post!

Comments are closed.